Poisson D'Avril
by PhDelicious
Summary: What do two rings, a fish, and an April Fool's Day prank mean for Grissom and Sara's relationship? Sequel to Valentine's Victory
1. Chapter 1

**Poisson D'Avril  
****PhDelicious  
**GSR  
Rated: T

**Disclaimer:** I have no actual right to these characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. All I get out of this is warm fuzzies from good reviews.

**A/N:** Sequel to "Valentine's Victory". Part 2 will contain spoilers for 6x18: The Unusual Suspect.

**

* * *

Chapter 1**

If she'd learned one thing in the past months, it was that Gil Grissom, a man often accused of being unfeeling and socially inept, was a romantic soul. He'd always been able to quote the Bard and poets at will. He'd even tried during their abortive first attempt at a relationship, though she hadn't realized it at the time. It wasn't that she hadn't appreciated the flowers that sporadically appeared on her table or the home cooked meals at the time, but they'd been over shadowed by the stress of establishing herself in her new job and town without being able to publicly acknowledge the man in her life as more than her boss.

This time they were being open with their relationship, though not flaunting it, and in the three months they'd been together, including two months of living together, Grissom had gone out of his way to make it clear that he was committed to this relationship. With the help of the other members of the night shift, he'd managed to schedule them one night off together a week and those nights had been reserved as date nights. They'd gone to see KA by Cirque du Soleil and had dinner at Chinois as well as doing more mundane things such as visiting the Impressionists exhibit at the Bellagio, visiting the body farm and going to the movies. So when Grissom had informed her that they were going to have off March 30th and to be prepared for a fancy date, Sara hadn't been overly surprised. She'd even decided to splurge on a new outfit and asked Catherine to help her shop.

Sara had been hesitant about the trip at first, even though it was her idea, because the only true common ground she shared with Catherine was being female CSIs, but it had taken less than ten minutes for her to convince herself that it had been the right choice. She'd expected Catherine to suggest one of the casinos' malls or the designer outlets and had been relieved to hear the name of one of the local malls rolling of Catherine's tongue instead. They met at the Boulevard Mall on morning after shift.

"Hey Catherine. Thanks for helping me with this."

"Shopping for clothes by yourself is pointless. You always need a second opinion, especially when it's for a big night."

Catherine headed for a rack of dresses and started piling them into Sara's arms.

"Let's start with these."

Looking at herself in the dressing room mirror Sara had to admire Catherine's ability to pick out clothing. She should have looked fantastic in all of the dresses. Unfortunately she didn't feel comfortable in any of them and it showed. Grissom might not have noticed, but Catherine did.

"No, huh? All right, wait here."

Sara stood awkwardly in the empty room for several long minutes, fidgeting with the skirt of the floor length black dress she'd tried on last, before Catherine returned a pair of simple black tuxedo pants and a burgundy tank.

"Cath, I already have a…"

"Not like this you don't."

Catherine held the shirt up to the lights revealing beadwork details on the chiffon over layer and an asymmetric hem line. Sara took the items from Catherine and headed off to change. The pants fit well and the top, well she'd have to wear a different bra, but she opened the door to her stall and stepped out to show Catherine.

"Damn I'm good. Fancy enough for a night out but still you and you can pair the pieces with other things after. Do you know where Gil's taking you?" Catherine gestured her to stand in front of the three-way mirror.

"Michael Mina at the Bellagio." Sara blushed and looked down at her feet. She'd checked the place out online. The restaurant was highly praised for its food and elegant atmosphere. They even had a six course vegetarian meal.

"Wow! He's really doing things up right this time."

Sara's head snapped up as she whirled to face Catherine.

"This time?"

The slightly panicked look on her colleague's face told her everything she needed to know. It hadn't just been a figure of speech.

"How long have you known?"

"I didn't at the time, but later when you asked for leave. It'd been a rough few shifts for all of us and I invited myself over for drinks after shift. I bugged him until he talked."

"So the plant was your idea?" Sara asked Catherine, not quite sure whether to be flattered or annoyed.

"Nah, I just told him he needed to fix whatever was wrong between the two of you. Apparently he did something right, since you're still here."

CSICSICSICSI

She'd been tempted to call in sick and skip shift; she was still that upset with Grissom. But she hadn't done that in a year, not that she expected him to make the connection, it just seemed like a bad time to be tempting fate. After all she'd given him, given them, a year to work things out and he'd never even tried to talk to her again. And then last night, she'd come so close to strangling him when he'd looked at her completely confused and asked if this was 'about the hamburger thing'. Sara marched determinedly into CSI, fingering the letter of resignation in her pocket.

"CSI Sidle, Sara" She stopped, surprised, when the normally quiet receptionist called her name. Waving towards a potted plant on the desk, the receptionist continued, "That was dropped off for you earlier today."

Reluctantly Sara walked over to the desk. She inspected the plant carefully, looking for any signs of tampering. She gingerly lifted the envelope from its holder. It was unsealed and the plain card slipped out easily. She flipped the card over and the harsh bark of laughter she let out upon seeing the sentiment startled everyone in the lobby. The name was familiar, but the handwriting was not. She stuffed the card back into the envelope, dropped them both in the potting soil and hefted the plant. She called back over her shoulder as she headed deeper into the building, "Thanks."

She headed straight for Grissom's office, not caring whether he was in yet or not. The door was shut. There was no response when she knocked so she tried the handle and when the door swung open before her Sara walked right into the office. It was empty. Placing the pot on Grissom's desk, Sara considered his sanctum, the jars and terrariums, the uncomfortable chairs facing his desk. She plopped herself down in his more comfortable desk chair, propped her feet up on his desk and waited.

It wasn't a very long wait. He usually came in a little after her and she'd purposefully been later than usual this evening. His footfalls paused just outside the door she'd left ajar and then it was tentatively pushed inward, revealing a confused Grissom. Confusion turned to wariness as he spotted Sara behind his desk.

"Sara?"

Sliding her shoes off the desk she leaned forward in his chair and tapped the plant.

"Is this a going away present or a half-hearted attempt to get me to stay? Because I never expected to get something like this from you at work. I wonder how many people got curious and checked the card before I got in today." Grissom blanched at her taunting, making a part of Sara that she wasn't proud of very happy. She folded her hands together on top of the desk. "Figures. So did you sign my request for leave?"

"No. Sara, I…" He stepped fully inside his office, shut the door behind him and began to pace. "The lab needs you."

"No it doesn't. You have three other very competent CSIs on this shift and I'm sure not everyone from days and swing is abysmal."

He stopped pacing to stare at her. After a long moment his eyes flicked away to the plant on his desk before closing. A hand rose to pinch his nose under his glasses.

"Grissom…Griss, when I said we both needed time to think about what we wanted from each other, I didn't expect you to completely ignore me for a year. Did you even realize that yesterday was exactly a year from the day of that conversation? For that year you've either ignored me or treated me like a rookie. I figured you'd made your wishes obvious. So, I repeat, what is this? What do you want from me?"

The hand that had been pinching his nose pulled his glasses off completely while the other rose to scrub over his face as he collapsed into one of the other chairs. As he stared at his knees, Sara pushed up from the desk chair and came around to perch on the desk.

"I want…" Grissom sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly looking up at her. "I want you to stay."

"Stay?" she echoed quietly. "Where?"

"Here."

She glared at him, but he just looked confused. "As what?"

Understanding was slow to dawn in his eyes, but when he figured out what she was asking, his gaze broke from hers to dart around the room uncomfortably.

"Sara, I…"

"You know what? Never mind. Forget I asked." Suddenly tired of the confrontation, Sara cut him off and headed out of his office. "Greg should have my DNA results by now."

CSICSICSICSI

He'd sought her out at the end of shift, she remembered. Walked into the locker room and set the plant down on the bench beside her.

"You forgot this in my office," he'd said. Then he'd handed back her leave of absence form, signed. "Your resignation would be unnecessary."

She'd gone home and used the leave of absence form as a coaster for her new plant.

"Sara?" Catherine's amused tone cut through the memory.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you need to get shoes while we were here."

"Oh," Sara blushed. Catherine's first question hadn't registered at all. "Umm, no I think I have something suitable."

"Okay, good. Look, I'm sorry to run out on you but I'm supposed to be dropping something off at Lindsey's school, and if I don't leave soon I'm going to be late."

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sara stiffened a bit as Catherine leaned in and gave her a quick hug.

"I hope your date goes well. You guys deserve it," called Catherine, over her shoulder as she headed out of the dressing room.

"Uh, thanks," was all Sara managed to get out before the other woman disappeared.

* * *

Tbc... 


	2. Chapter 2

**Poisson D'Avril  
****PhDelicious  
**GSR  
Rated: T

**Disclaimer:** I have no actual right to these characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. All I get out of this is warm fuzzies from good reviews.

**A/N:** This part contains spoilers for 6x18: The Unusual Suspect.

**

* * *

****Chapter 2**

Sara's mind wandered as she dressed for her date with Grissom, their most recent case weighing on her. She'd been duped by a 12 year old girl and had allowed a killer to go free. As she stared at herself in the mirror, fiddling with her hair, she couldn't help but wonder what exactly had motivated Hannah. She'd claimed to hate the fact that their parents had made the family revolve around her, but could that really be enough for her to sacrifice part of her life to get her half-brother out of a murder rap?

Sara was still trying to analyze the actions of a socially outcast genius without projecting her own issues when Grissom stuck his head into their bathroom.

"Ready to go?"

She sighed and turned away from the mirror, trying to bring her focus back to the present.

"Ready as I'm going to be." She stepped towards the door, but he blocked her way, leaning in for a quick kiss. She could see the quick flashes of attraction and approval in his eyes as he took in her outfit. Then he made eye contact and she saw the concern he tried to hide.

"You're worried about Hannah." He made it a statement as he stepped back to allow her to move past him into the hall.

"By all accounts she barely talked to her brother and her parents seemed to dote on her. Why would she risk everything for him?"

"What did she tell you?"

"She said that it was harder to make people believe in something that never happened than it is to hide something that you've done. And that she was going to sell her story and make millions. Griss, she's 12, I can't believe this was all about the money."

"What about Marlon?" Grabbing his keys and wallet from the hall table, he helped her into a light jacket.

"I didn't spend much time with him, but he was quite adamant about his sister's lack of involvement."

"It must have made him angry, everyone suddenly believing he was too stupid to kill someone just because his genius sister said she was the one who did it."

"Shifting the spotlight back to Hannah. You don't think she did this out of jealousy? That family practically revolved around her."

"One can never truly understand another's reasoning. That much pressure on a child so young, especially with her intelligence…I guess we'll just have to wait for the book." As he spoke, Grissom held the passenger door open for Sara. He walked back around the car and slid into the driver's seat. "Dinner?"

They pulled out of the townhouse's parking lot and headed for the bright lights of the Strip.

csicsicsicsi

Grissom was nervous. Dinner had been fabulous with course after course of exquisitely prepared vegetarian food that even he could enjoy, but Sara still seemed tense and distracted. He'd never had good timing, maybe this was a bad idea. What he was about to do was so over the top he knew nobody would believe it. It wasn't that he thought Sara needed or particularly wanted a grand gesture, but that he knew she still had doubts about his intentions. Their past had scared her more than he'd initially realized. He needed to show her that he wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to be with her, be seen with her, but today was looking like a bad choice. He considered trying to find their waiter to call the whole thing off, but he heard a discrete cough behind him and realized that it was already too late.

"For dessert," the waiter placed a small silver tray on the table between Grissom and Sara. "We have a warm chocolate cake, and a coconut panna cotta. Enjoy."

Grissom studied the tray, waiting for Sara to speak. There was a small plate with a well presented slice of chocolate cake and a small bowl holding the coconut topped pudding sitting on either side of a small black velvet box. Time seemed to stop as he waited for Sara to say something, anything.

"Griss?" she asked hesitantly.

He raised his eyes to hers. The tension that she'd been carrying for the past few days had increased and there was a hint of fear behind the surprise. He reached out and lifted the box from the tray. He didn't get down on one knee, but he slid his chair around the table so that he could reach out and stroke his hand gently over her cheek.

"Sara, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and for a long time I was too afraid and too stubborn to admit that, to anyone including myself. I've hurt you so many times over the years that I have no right to sit here and ask this of you. But you're stronger than I ever realized. Every time I pushed you away you came back. I don't want to do that any more. I love you, and if you'll have me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Taking a deep breath, he brushed the tears from her cheek, dropped his hand from her face and opened the ring box between them. "Marry me?"

Sara's eyes dropped involuntarily to the ring Grissom was offering her and widened in shock. The ring was beautiful, sizable without being ostentatious, with an oval center stone and two smaller flanking trillions. She reached forward with trembling hands and tried to lift the ring from the box, but her fingers wouldn't obey her commands and she ended up knocking the box from Grissom's grasp. He started to slide from his chair to pick up the ring, which had popped free upon impact with the floor, but Sara beat him to it. Her hands were still shaking as she grasped the ring and slid it on. She placed her hands on Grissom's thighs to steady her while she rose. He looked from the diamonds sparkling on her slim finger up to the smile beaming through a sheen of tears and his heart threatened to burst even though she had yet to speak. She grabbed his hands and tugged him to his feet without stepping back, bringing him flush up against her. Keeping their hands wrapped together, she leaned forward and brushed her lips across his, once, twice, a third time, settling with more force.

The soft sounds of polite clapping and laughter broke Sara out of the moment. She flushed and hid her face against Grissom's neck. He released one of her hands to stroke down her back.

"You know you still haven't answered my question," he teased, whispering in her ear.

Sara pulled back and Grissom could tell she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"Yes. Of course the answer is yes." She threw her arms around Grissom and hugged him tight. "Can we have dessert now?"

csicsicsicsi

It was moments like this that Sara missed having parents the most. As soon as they had returned to the townhouse, Grissom had dropped a quick kiss on her cheek and wandered off into his office to call his mom. Sara circled the living room, brushing her hands over the bookshelves and display cases. She wanted to celebrate with someone. Sure, she could call one of the guys, but she thought it would be more fun to surprise them at work, that way she could see their reactions. That left only one other person on her short list of friends. Sara flipped open her phone and dialed.

"Hello?" came the sleepy response.

"Hi Mel. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"S'ok, I was just taking a quick nap. I'm most of the way through a triple. What's up?"

"I was just calling because I thought you'd want to know that Griss took me out to this fantastic restaurant and..."

"Oh my God! You're engaged…to Gil! Congratulations!" Mel interrupted, sounding considerably more alert.

"Thanks."

"You don't sound as excited as I would've expected. Is something wrong?"

"I think I'm in shock. After all these years, it amazes me that we're dating, let alone living together or engaged. I'm getting everything I've dreamed of having…"

"And it makes you nervous; you want to run before it's too late and you lose everything again."

"I know; I'm being ridiculous. I've been so happy these past few months Mel."

"I really don't think Gil's going anywhere Sara. You stuck around for all these years, trust him to do the same."

Sara sighed, remembering the conversation she'd had with Mel a few months ago, just before Grissom had finally made his move.

CSICSICSICSI

They been back from the hospital for about two hours and they were sitting on Sara's couch eating take-out Chinese when Mel turned the conversation back to Grissom.

"So, you came to Vegas for Grissom. I know you had a fling with him and then things went bad. Why did you stay after that?"

"I love the job, and I get along really well with pretty much everyone at work. I didn't think it would take Grissom so long to figure everything out. Then every time I would start to get too far away, he would do something to pull me back in."

"Only because you let him. You could've just left."

Sara sighed and set aside the carton she'd been eating from. "Honestly I was too scared to leave. As long as I was here I could believe that the reason Grissom and I weren't together was work. If I left I would've always been looking over my shoulder waiting for him to come get me and it would've destroyed me when he didn't."

"And if you'd met someone else?"

"Even if I'd met someone else he wouldn't have had all of me because there always would've been that piece hoping that Grissom would suddenly appear around the next corner. I figured that if I stayed here at least I'd always know when I was going to see him next. And if I could find someone else to make me happy while I was still here then I knew it'd be enough."

"So you never found anyone else?"

"No one important."

"Ah, but that sounds like there was someone," teased Mel, continuing to poke at the food she was no longer eating.

Sara repositioned herself on the couch, pulling her knees into her chest, practically sitting on her heels. "There was someone, once, for a little while."

"What happened?"

"He's a paramedic, so I'd see him occasionally at work. We were just friends at first, but then he asked me to dinner and I had no reason not to go. We dated for a while, getting together when ever we could get the same shifts off. Then I found out he was…using me to cheat on his girlfriend. That was the end of that."

"How'd you find out?"

"They were having lunch together when a woman drove her car into the café. I was one of the people who worked the case."

"You seem to learn a lot of personal stuff second hand from working your cases."

Sara could tell that Mel was trying to lighten the tone but the comment struck a little too close to home, making her think of some of the other things she'd learned during investigations, like the time she'd watched Grissom 'question' that doctor. Something of her thoughts must have shown in her expression, because Mel put down her container and sat forward.

"Sara? What else haven't you told me about?"

CSICSICSICSI

She'd proceeded to tell Mel about how, instead of sticking to the evidence, Grissom had tried to talk a suspect into a confession by giving one of his own. Mel had been supportive, like she was being now. Sara tuned back in to their current conversation to hear Mel continuing to ramble about how she was sure Grissom was serious. She interrupted. "I thought he was serious the first time. He's going so overboard this time, I'm just worried that he's going to change his mind and decide this, me, us, isn't worth the risk. We still haven't told the lab director or the sheriff."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"A little. It's hard. We've always had trouble talking about the big stuff. We're getting better with practice."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara noticed Grissom reenter the living room. He seemed to be carrying something. She started to turn towards him, but he moved to stay behind her so she focused on Mel.

"Hey, well I didn't mean to bum you out too bad. You should go celebrate. I just got paged; my tox results are in. I'll call you back after I've had some sleep."

"Thanks Mel. Good luck with your case."

Mel hung up and Sara flipped her phone closed. She would've turned but there was no point as Grissom stepped up to slide his arms around her. She looked down and saw that the object she'd noticed before was a bottle of champagne. He bent and placed a light kiss on her neck.

"I thought we could celebrate a little."

Sara turned in his arms and pressed her lips, open and seeking, to his in a much more intimate exchange than she'd allowed herself at dinner. When they were both breathless, Grissom pulled back slightly.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Yes"

"Well then…" He moved his arm from her waist and gestured with the bottle. "I want to see if this tastes different when I lick it off of you."

Sara squirmed, torn between the erotic image and the less tasteful reality. "Griss that's going to be so gross later. I'll be sticky everywhere."

"Don't worry. I promise to let you shower afterwards."

* * *

Tbc… Next up work. Anyone want to write me champagne smut? 


	3. Chapter 3

**Poisson D'Avril  
****PhDelicious  
**GSR

**Disclaimer:** I have no actual right to these characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. All I get out of this is warm fuzzies from good reviews.

**

* * *

Chapter 3**

They woke and prepared for work following their normal routine. It wasn't until they were leaving for the lab that it occurred to Sara that something was different. The flash of a streetlight off her ring caught her eye.

"Crap!"

"What?" Grissom took his eyes off the traffic briefly to glance at her. She stuck her hand out at him. "So?"

"We're driving to work; I'm still wearing my ring and I don't have a necklace to put it on."

"Why would you put it on a necklace?"

"Because I shouldn't wear this at work." Why was Grissom being deliberately obtuse?

"Why not?" He looked back at her. Her look was a combination of annoyance, and worry. Suddenly understanding dawned. "Sara, I don't want you taking my ring off. We're not hiding, remember? I don't care if people figure it out."

"Oh." Her eyes widened and a smile bloomed across her face. Grissom smiled back at her and reached out to grasp her hand, rubbing his thumb over the ring. "Griss, really, it's okay if you don't want to…"

He interrupted her. "Sara…before, the first time, you left thinking I was embarrassed to be with you, but that wasn't really…I was embarrassed by what I knew people would say or think about you even though it wasn't true. I thought you'd end up agreeing with them, and I never wanted you to feel that way. I just, I don't want to screw this up again."

She was silent for a while processing his revelations, after a little while Sara moved to twine their hands together. "Understood, but could you please stop over-compensating? It's making me really nervous."

"I'm not over-compensating." He was practically pouting and it made her smile.

"Grissom, an elaborately staged public proposal? Does that sound like something you'd normally do?"

His mouth quirked, acknowledging the truth of what she was saying. "Are you saying you didn't like it?"

"No, I'm saying I fell in love with you just as you are. You don't have to go out of your way to make a spectacle of this. But thank you for wanting to."

He smiled fully, and raised their joined hands to place a quick kiss on her ring. They held hands for the rest of the car ride. When they got to the lab, early for shift as usual, Grissom headed for his office while Sara headed for the evidence locker to double check some things from her most recent case before signing off on her report. Grissom found her half an hour later as she worked in an evidence room.

"Anything that can't be put off until later? A 419 just got called in and swing's swamped. Would you mind?" He held out an assignment slip.

Sara looked at the evidence bags spread around her. "Nope, I was just about to start boxing everything back up and sign off on the report. "

"How 'bout you sign the report now and I'll finish packing this up for you so you can head out to the crime scene?"

"You're not going to go?" she looked at him questioningly.

"I need to be here to hand out assignments to the rest of the shift. Besides, no bugs."

Sara rolled her eyes at him, flipped to the last page of her report and signed and dated the form.

"Here you go. Have a blast," she said, taking the assignment slip from him. He smiled at her and watched as she sauntered out of the evidence room, an extra spring to her step. He'd missed seeing her with so much energy, and watching it return over the past few months had been extremely gratifying.

csicsicsicsi

By the time Grissom packed up Sara's evidence, returned it to the vault, and collected the new assignment slips, he was almost late for the start of shift. Walking up to the break room he caught the tail end of a conversation between Greg and Nick.

"Wouldn't that be an awesome prank?" asked Greg.

"I don't know Greg. I think you're pushing your luck. You're asking for…"

Nick, who was facing the door, stopped speaking as Grissom rounded the corner into the room. Greg spun around quickly to see who had interrupted and Grissom thought he might have seen a brief flicker of relief on the younger man's face before he launched himself from his chair and bounced over to the coffee pot.

"Coffee?"

"No thanks Greg."

"I'll take some," Catherine said from behind Grissom. Greg pouted slightly but he brought a cup over to where Catherine had seated herself at the conference table. Warrick came in a few moments later and Grissom handed out assignments. He paired himself with Catherine on a double homicide, Greg with Nick on a decomp, and sent Warrick out solo to a smash and grab.

After what he'd heard earlier, he would have followed Greg, who shot out of the break room like a man on a mission after agreeing to meet Nick at the car, but Catherine was radiating impatience. Given how anxious his partner was, Grissom was surprised that she waited until they were in the car to speak.

"So, did she say yes?"

"How did you …"

"I guessed." He looked at her incredulously. She sighed. "All right, after Sara told me where you were going I called the place pretending to be from the jewelers checking to make sure they'd gotten the ring."

"Catherine…" Grissom felt his temper flare at his friend's interference. "Could you just mind your own business for once?"

"I'm happy for you two. Did you remember to turn in the paperwork for my vacation?"

"Yes."

"Good," was all she said.

Grissom was glad when Catherine remained silent for the rest of the ride to their crime scene. Her question had started him thinking, worrying. If it had been that easy for Catherine to figure out, how many other people had guessed the nature of his relationship with Sara? Had they really been so obvious? Wasn't this what he'd told Sara he'd wanted, for everyone to know about them? Why was it weighing so heavily on him now? This train of thought continued to run through the back of his mind as they began to process the crime scene.

csicsicsicsi

Sara returned from her scene, which appeared to be a prank gone bad, shortly after mid-night and headed straight for Trace. Hodges gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything as she placed her samples on the table. Her next stop was the morgue to check in on the autopsy and make sure the official COD agreed with the findings on the scene.

"Ah, Sara, good evening. I hear congratulations are in order." Dr. Robbins greeted her as she entered his domain.

Confused, Sara looked at her hands. She'd already gloved up so her ring wasn't visible, and David hadn't said anything when he'd picked up the body. "Thanks. How did you know?"

"Archie stopped by earlier. Wanted to know if I could confirm the rumor he'd heard from Greg. I told him Gil hadn't said anything to me."

"Oh. I…Greg…Thanks." Unsure of what else to say she stepped up to the table and took in the body before her.

"Cause of death is asphyxiation. There was some bruising in various locations but no major wounds or signs of struggle other than the rope burn on his neck." Dr. Robbins gestured to the college aged man on his table. "I collected some fibers for Trace to compare to the rope found at the scene and sent a blood sample to Tox, but I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that this guy hung himself."

"Accidentally," Sara added. The doctor raised an eyebrow and she continued. "Vega thinks it was an April Fool's Day prank gone wrong."

"That would explain the climbing harness." Robbins gestured to the pile of effects on the next table.

"Yeah, there was a hole in the building where he'd obviously tried to anchor himself, but the plaster around it was cracked. I don't think he counted on the wall crumbling under his weight. His safety line failed and he ended up dead instead of faking it."

"The more elaborate the prank, the more likely it is to backfire. I'll have the final report for you in a little while."

"Thanks Doc." Sara started to pull off her gloves and gown as she left the morgue. A softly voiced request stopped her.

"May I?" She turned back to Robbins, confused. He held out a hand. She placed her hand in his, and the ring glinted under the lights. "Congratulations. Gil is a very lucky man."

"Thanks Doc." On impulse Sara stepped forward and hugged the older man tightly, before heading out of the morgue.

csicsicsicsi

She went looking for Archie, but found Warrick in the A/V lab instead. What appeared to be security camera footage from a convenience store played on the monitor, but Warrick seemed to be staring at his wedding band, pushing it around and around with his thumb. Quietly, she stepped into the lab and pulled the door most of the way shut behind her.

"What's it like?"

Warrick startled and glanced at her sideways.

"Being married…."

Turning back to his ring, he thought about it for a while before answering. "It's harder than I thought it'd be. We don't get to spend that much time together, and sometimes I wish…but it's nice to have someone to go home to, to talk with, even if she doesn't always understand." He looked back at her, paying more attention this time. "Why?"

"You don't seem as happy lately." She shrugged.

His eyes tracked down to her hands, folded in her lap. His eyes widened. "And I bet that ring has nothing to do with it. I didn't really picture you and the bugman going for the whole marriage thing, but congratulations."

"I think I could've been happy without it," she said, lifting her hand to eye level, and twisting the ring back and forth on her finger. "But he asked and there was no way I was going to turn him down."

"So Sanders wasn't pulling an April Fool's prank. Damn, I owe Bobby twenty bucks." Archie's voice sounded loud, after the hushed conversation she'd been having with Warrick and Sara flinched.

She was trying to figure out how to avoid having the conversation she knew was coming; it was getting tiring. She'd only talked to three people since returning to the lab, but it had seemed as though everyone at the crime scene was more interested in her ring than in doing their job. Fortunately, her page went off.

"I'll let you guys get back to work. Hodges has my trace results." She forced a smile and waved as she headed for the Trace lab.

Sara was tempted to take off her ring or at least put on gloves before entering Hodges' domain, but the gloves would have looked out of place and enough people already knew about the ring to ensure that he'd find out eventually. Instead she decided to adopt her normal, strictly business attitude with the annoying tech in hopes of keeping him distracted. Pulling herself together, she breezed into Trace. "You paged me?"

"Ah, Sara. Yes the red-orange smear from your db's shirt was red clay consistent with tiles or pottery. I assume he didn't hang himself from a large urn, so most likely your building has a tile roof."

"No, but the one next to it did. Maybe he tried there first." She pictured the two buildings. The building with the clay tiles had a low, sloped roof whereas the crime scene had a flat roof. The vic had been hanging between the two buildings. "Or maybe he tried to save himself by bellying up onto the other building. Thanks Hodges. I'll go back and check it out."

"Let me know if you need any help. I'd love a chance to get out of the lab for a little while."

Sara rolled her eyes, remembering. "If I recall correctly the last time you were out in the field 'helping' with a roof experiment I ended up taking your place."

CSICSICSICSI

It had been an odd couple of days, working round the clock trying to make sense of the massive amounts of evidence from the shoot out. Sara contemplated the weirdness of it all as she sat, grateful for the small shade provided by the SUV. She was taking a short break before moving to the next area of the crime scene. She'd been shocked to find Sofia in Grissom's office earlier. Of course she felt for the woman. Sitting around wondering if you were responsible for the death of a fellow officer would be awful. Sara never really liked Sofia, but she thought the other woman had a little more sense than to disregard protocol so flagrantly as to seek out the lead investigator. What hadn't surprised her much was the fact that Grissom had just been sitting behind his desk, letting Sofia ramble on around him. It had been clear to her as soon as she entered his office that Grissom was uncomfortable with the situation, but he wasn't the type of man to cause a scene, especially around a distraught woman. He also wasn't smooth enough to have hustled Sofia out of his office and the building without someone noticing.

Sara hadn't wanted to cause a scene either. She still thought that she'd taken an impressively neutral tone in reminding Sofia that this was inappropriate, but that hadn't stopped the defensive reaction. Because she really did understand what it felt like to need to talk to someone, anyone, but without having a person to turn to, she'd tried to take a more conciliatory tone in her response.

"_I can recommend a departmental psychologist."_

Sofia hadn't seemed thrilled by her suggestion, but at least she hadn't gotten angrier, and she'd left. Sara hoped that Grissom, his perception not colored by self-doubt, had heard her as she'd tried to be, not as Sofia's reactionary mind had interpreted things. But she knew better than to ask him about it, and he hadn't seemed upset with her. She was trying to decide where to begin working next when her eyes landed on Grissom. He looked like a kid in a candy store, wide eyed and happy, as he approached her, balancing a ladder on his shoulder. She had no intention of refusing him, but she couldn't resist teasing him, especially since he appeared to be in such a good mood, and they'd been getting along better recently.

"_I thought my top priority, as per the under-sheriff, was finding the bullet that went through Bell."_

He seemed to take her comment more seriously than she'd meant it, but he wasn't deterred and she followed him into the alley. Her curiosity increased as Grissom set the ladder up next to a building and climbed up to look at the roof. She knew that one of the suspects had been shot in this alley, but it wasn't the area of the crime scene she was responsible for so she didn't know any of the details. Grissom examined the roof briefly and then asked her to call Hodges.

"_Are…you gonna tell me what's going on?"_

His response was tantalizingly vague and she started turning over the clues in her mind, while admiring the view as Grissom climbed back down the ladder. He was on the phone with Ortega, talking about Brass, when the pieces clicked. She waited until he hung up before asking.

"This was the vic that the witness said was unarmed?"

"Yes. Hodges found red clay dust, consistent with roofing tiles or pottery embedded in the gun handle."

"So are any of the tiles cracked?" Sara asked. Grissom's look of open admiration surprised her. He was usually more covert, if he gave anything away at all. "If you didn't expect me to figure out what you were doing up there, why am I here?"

"It's always good to have a second set of eyes. Besides I thought you'd appreciate the chance to do something other than pick bullets out of walls." Grissom grinned at her.

"I think you just want me here so that you've got back-up when Hodges starts to complain about not being athletic," she teased as she took a step towards him.

Grissom shrugged and leaned against the ladder. "Maybe he'll surprise you."

"I wouldn't bet on it." She stepped forward again as she spoke. She was encroaching on his personal space and he didn't seem overly uncomfortable so she decided to push her luck. She reached out and brushed her hand over Grissom's shoulder and down his arm, his eyes tracked her movement. "Twenty says I end up handling your guns."

Something in the tone of her voice brought his gaze sweeping up to search her face. Sara gave his arm one final squeeze before pulling her hand away and brushing it against her pants. Grissom looked at her questioningly.

"Clay dust," was her only response as Brass's loud voice could be heard from the alley entrance. Sara stepped back and settled in to watch and wait for her turn as Grissom climbed back up the ladder, getting ready to recreate the scene.

CSICSICSICSI

"Well I'm glad our time together was memorable. Maybe you could take me with you more often."

Apparently her point had been lost on Hodges. She wasn't going to tell him that even though he hadn't formally agreed to take her bet, Grissom had slipped her twenty dollars later that day.

"I'll think about it," Sara said as she turned to leave the lab.

Hodges called out to her as she pushed open the door, "Hey, Sara…I heard a rumor that…"

"Yes, Grissom proposed last night. See I even have the ring to prove it." She cut him off, turning back to flash her hand at him.

"Oh, that wasn't what I…Greg said Warrick wasn't wearing his ring tonight. He asked me if I'd heard anything about a possible divorce. I can't believe he works with you guys and he's coming to me for information."

What had Greg been thinking? She remembered Archie mentioning that he'd thought it was an April Fool's Day prank. Sara fought the urge to smack herself.

"Hodges, today's April 1st. I wouldn't believe anything Greg told you."

"Crap!" The frantic expression on Hodges face and the fact that he practically knocked her down to flee the lab would have amused Sara had she been less irritated with Greg. She caught the lab door as it swung shut behind Hodges and headed out in search of the newest CSI.

* * *

TBC… 


	4. Chapter 4

**Poisson D'Avril  
****PhDelicious  
**GSR  
Rated: T

**Disclaimer:** I have no actual right to these characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. All I get out of this is warm fuzzies from good reviews.

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long for me to finish this. Thanks to Joan, who's gentle reminders pushed me to complete this and who's helped me to stay spoiler free. "Poisson D'Avril" refers to the French version of April Fool's Day.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Grissom and Catherine returned from their crime scene each juggling several containers of evidence. He'd allowed Catherine to ramble about how excited Lindsay was for their upcoming vacation on the ride back, but as they rounded the corner past reception he switched back to work.

"After we drop this off I want you to head down to the autopsy. I'll meet you down there after I check in with everyone else."

Catherine gave him an odd look, but didn't say anything. As they headed for trace a body came hurtling down the corridor. They instinctively stepped farther apart to give the on comer more room, but not quite far enough. Hodges clipped Catherine's elbow, sending evidence flying and himself spinning into the wall. Grissom was the first to recover.

"Hodges?" He gave the normally composed tech a raised-eyebrow stare, wondering if the man had finally cracked. After all, he and Sara had recently caught the tech coloring in his grey hair with a black marker.

Hodges dropped his head back against the wall and tried to speak. His words came out haltingly, some lost in choked breaths. "Warrick…his ring…misinformed…Stop…signal."

Grissom watched in confusion as the other man pushed off the wall and took off again. Brushing off the odd encounter, he started towards the lab, planning out the rest of shift to allow himself to finish on time. When he realized that Catherine wasn't beside him he turned to look for her. She was standing motionless amidst a scattering of evidence. "Catherine?"

She didn't respond and he took a step back towards her. Before he reached her she gave a quick shake of her head and bent to gather her evidence. Grissom couldn't quite hear what hear what she was mumbling to himself, but he thought he made out the words: stupid, Warrick, and married. Wanting to give her as much privacy as possible he stepped back and addressed her again. "You all right?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'll have a nice bruise, but I'm good. It's a good thing you had the breakable stuff." She gestured to the glass vase in Grissom's collection of evidence.

He smiled at that and waited to make sure she could gather everything before heading towards trace and almost ran into Sara.

"Whoops! Sorry Griss." Sara danced nimbly around him. "Do you need a hand Catherine?"

"Sure, thanks."

Sara squatted down and reached out to grab the last evidence bag. She followed Grissom and Catherine back into the lab she'd just vacated. They placed their evidence down on the table and Grissom began checking the labels to see what had to be taken elsewhere. Catherine dropped a hand down on top of Sara's as she reached for an evidence bag. Sara startled and tensed.

"Congratulations. I'm glad you two have been able to work this out. I take it the guys don't know yet."

"I've seen Warrick, but not Nick or Greg," Sara replied.

"They're probably showering off their decomp. I won't tell them."

"Thanks! I'd like to surprise them, though I think Greg might be psychic; apparently he told everyone we were engaged as an April Fool's joke." Sara rolled her eyes at the idea.

"That boy's going to get himself in trouble with his big mouth one of these days," grumped Grissom.

"Well, I know you guys have work to do." Sara nodded to the pile of evidence that had just been dumped on the table. "I have some guys to track down."

"Hey, how's the case?" Grissom called as she headed for the door.

"April Fool's Day prank gone wrong, rather like Greg's," Sara quipped as she left the lab.

csicsicsicsi

There was no one in the break room, but Sara found Nick alone in the locker room shrugging into a shirt. He looked over as the door shut behind her. "Hey Sara."

"Hi Nicky. I hear you and Greg got stuck with a decomp."

"Yeah, male db in a closed dumpster. Apparently there was a miscommunication with the waste collection company and somebody complained because the trash hadn't been collected in over a week and it was starting to smell. Actually, Greg got the worst of it. He got to go dumpster diving." Nick grinned as he finished buttoning his shirt.

"So he's…" Sara frowned, disappointed that her prey did not seem to be present.

"I sent him home so he could get a better shower." Nick looked her over more closely, noticing her tensed posture and the fact that she had her hands clasped behind her back. "Though maybe he'll be thanking me for more than that later," he teased. "Anything you want to tell me?"

"Grissom and I are engaged."

"That's it? I thought it'd at least be up to married or pregnant by now. Greg said he was going to start with engaged."

"Nick!" Sara cut him off firmly.

"What?"

She stuck her hand into his line of sight.

"What am I supposed to be…Oh! For real? Damn, Greg's going to be unbearable now." Nick sighed.

Sara snorted and put her hands on her hips, waiting. When Nick only continued muttering about Greg, she became impatient. "Is there anything else you'd like to say to me?"

"Huh? Oh, crap, sorry…Congratulations, and if he ever screws up let me know and I'll give him a talking to." Nick reached out and pulled Sara into a big hug.

She rested her chin on his shoulder and hugged her friend tightly. "Thanks Nick. And please, do me a favor…don't go have that conversation with Grissom. He's nervous enough without you all ganging up on him and intimidating him on my behalf."

"Whatever you say Sara." Nick patted her lightly on the back and released her from his hold. "So I guess everyone else knows already, huh?"

"Yep. I think Greg's plan back fired; he's the last one to know he was right." Sara smiled, calmer now than when she had started looking for Greg. "I'll let you get back to work."

csicsicsicsi

The next few hours passed in a monotony of paperwork, waiting for the rest of her test results to come back, and plotting revenge on Greg. When the sky had begun to lighten, Sara'd returned to her crime scene glad of the excuse to get out of the lab. Now the page she'd just received had her dreading her return.

_My office – Ecklie_

As she climbed into the SUV she reached for her cell phone and pressed one on her speed dial.

"Grissom." He sounded tense but not upset.

"Hey Griss." Sara tried to sound relaxed, but she responded to his tension.

"How's the case going?"

"There were scuff marks and some broken tiles on the neighboring building, as if someone tired to climb up, but no indication that there was anyone else on either roof."

"So it was accidental then?" Grissom asked.

"It appears that way."

"All right, I'll see you when you get back."

"Umm, Griss, I got a page from Ecklie." She was hesitant to ask if he'd gotten one too, worried about what she was being called to task for this time. She couldn't think of anything she'd done recently.

"You're not the only one," he sighed. "I'll see if we can settle it before you get back."

"Thanks, good luck." The sound of his voice and the knowledge that he would back her regardless brought a smile to her face despite her worries. "I'll meet you in Ecklie's office."

csicsicsicsi

Grissom knew it would take Sara at least twenty minutes to get back from her scene and he sincerely hoped this meeting wouldn't take that long. Sighing as he flipped his phone shut, Grissom took a moment to pull off his glasses and rub his nose.

"I'll be back," he muttered to Catherine and shuffled out of the lab, sliding his glasses back into place.

The short walk down the hall to the Assistant Director's office seemed to take longer than usual as a gnawing fear burgeoned in his belly. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous, maybe because it had been a year since Conrad had last made trouble for him and his team and he'd spent it waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The door to Ecklie's office was cracked open and Grissom knocked as he pushed his way in. Ecklie looked up from his paperwork at the sound.

"Ah Gil, thank you for coming so quickly. Please, sit."

Sara hadn't been mentioned yet; Grissom wasn't sure he wanted to drag her name into this unless necessary. "How can I help you Conrad?"

Ecklie sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "It's come to my attention that there's a rumor going around the lab that you and Miss Sidle have gotten engaged. Given today's date I'm going to choose to treat this as nothing more than a malicious April Fool's joke…"

"Actually Conrad," Grissom interrupted. He wasn't sure why he was interrupting, except that Conrad was guaranteed to find out the truth sooner or later since they had shared their news with the rest of the lab. "While this may have started as nothing more than a prank, the information is in fact correct."

When there was no response from the Assistant Director, Grissom continued, "Sara and I got engaged last night."

"Oh."

Grissom wanted to laugh at the confusion obvious on the other man's face as Ecklie struggled to form a more coherent response.

"I see. Well, in that case…"

"There is no department policy specifically forbidding relationships between…"

"Yes, and do know why that is Gil?" Ecklie cut Grissom off. Grissom could only shake his head 'no'. It had been that way every time he'd checked the employee handbook, though as he thought about it Grissom realized that the first time he'd bothered looking was when a new edition had been given out several months after Sara's arrival in Vegas. Something of his thought pattern must have shown in his face, because Ecklie continued in a slightly bitter tone, "That's right. The Director heard the rumors about you and Miss Sidle. When you offered her a permanent position he took his concerns to the Sheriff. It was decided that keeping you was more important than protecting the lab from the specter of impropriety. Nobody expected you to hold out this long and the fact that you have hasn't saved the lab's reputation from anything. I suppose congratulations are in order; after all you two deserve to have lives outside this lab as much as everyone else does."

This time Grissom couldn't quite contain the chuckle that rose in him at the absurdity of Conrad Ecklie telling him he deserved to have a life, an awkwardly familiar phrase when it came to him and Sara. Then something else that Conrad had said caught his attention. "What do you mean the lab's reputation has been called into question?"

"Well, not so much the lab's but Miss Sidle's." Ecklie's tone was condescending, as if he couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

"What are you talking about Conrad? I assume you're referring to something other than the stunt you pulled last year," Grissom practically growled, his earlier sense of amusement having suddenly vanished.

"Haven't you ever read over the court transcripts for the Haviland trial, taken a look at the dirt that Gerard gave to Wescott so she could destroy your case?" The disbelief was plain in Ecklie's voice.

"No," Grissom grimaced at the recollection of that week. He probably should have known from Catherine's reactions and the way that his time on the stand had gone that the rest of his team had been put through the same crap. At the time he'd been too busy worrying over his hearing loss and his own poor performance in court to counsel his team.

"Marjorie Wescott brought up Sidle's tendency to have relationships with her coworkers on the stand."

"Excuse me?"

A soft voice came from the door to Ecklie's office, "She accused me of manipulating the evidence to please you and of influencing Hank to do the same." Both men's attention jerked to her as Sara stepped into the office and hovered beside Grissom. "Why are we talking about this?"

"I was just informing Gil of the history behind our department's policy on office relationships."

"Right." Grissom could tell that Sara's voice contained traces of sarcasm barely suppressed, but Ecklie didn't seem to notice. One of Sara's hands dropped to grab Grissom's shoulder. "You had me paged?"

"Yes. I just wanted to remind you not to let anything that happens, or doesn't happen, between you two affect your work. At this point, I'm not separating you, but I will if this becomes an issue. Understood?"

Sara's hand tightened convulsively on his shoulder, and Grissom knew that she wasn't going to be able to answer Ecklie politely. He answered for both of them. "Thank you for your consideration. Is there anything else?"

"No, you can go."

Nodding to Ecklie, Grissom rose and gestured Sara out of the room in front of him before she said anything impulsive. She started talking as soon the office door closed behind them. "How the heck did he find out? No one on the team would've said anything." Understanding dawned; it hadn't been their team. She sighed, "Greg's April Fool's Day prank."

"Most likely." He was almost certain this had been a result of Greg's antics, but he didn't want Sara hurting her friend. "Have you finished up your case?"

"I'm still waiting on the final results from a few tests, but it's pretty clear that this was an accidental death."

"Good, while you're waiting you can give Catherine a hand with our case. I have some things that I need to take care of." Grissom couldn't quite meet her eyes.

"Griss…" He glanced sideways at her. "You don't have to…It doesn't matter any more."

"It does to me. It'll be all right Sara. Just promise me you won't kill Greg before I get to talk to him." He tried to lighten both of their moods. Her faint grin told him he'd partially succeed.

"All right Griss. I'm coming to get you in an hour though." Sara followed him into his office.

He turned in surprise when she grabbed his arm to stop him from rounding his desk. Her other hand rose to his cheek and she leaned in to kiss him lightly on the cheek, their first kiss at work. Without another word she sauntered out of his office to find Catherine. Grissom sat down at his desk and fired up his computer. He pulled up the transcript of the Haviland trial and began reading.

His face tightened with anger as he read about what his CSIs had been through. He forced himself to remember back to the frustrations of that week.

CSICSICSICSI

"You deserve to have a life."

It was moments like this that reminded Grissom why he despised the man who had introduced him to the world of forensics. Philip had oozed charm all over Sara and then gone after her personally when there was no scientific or procedural basis on which she could be faulted. As much as he was hurting at the knowledge that Sara was seeing someone else, he couldn't stop to deal with it, with her, now, there were more pressing matters at hand. Grissom followed Philip Gerard into his office.

"It's nice to see you again Gil."

"What do you want Philip?" Grissom shut the door behind him.

"To do my job." Gerard shrugged and seated himself in Grissom's chair.

"And get your client off at the expense of my CSIs, regardless of the evidence." From where he stood, hovering behind his visitor's chairs, Grissom could feel a headache starting already; there was only one thing that could make this day worse. He should've known better than to think that because now Philip's lips were moving and Grissom couldn't hear anything. Grissom resisted the urge to pull of his glasses and scrub his hands over his face. He was not looking forward the rest of the week. He didn't bother to read Philip's lips, just started speaking when they stopped moving. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Get out of my office."

"Now Gil"

This time Grissom paid attention, not to the words, but to the placating set of Philip's shoulders and his palms out gestures as Philip rose from behind Grissom's desk. "Do what you have to, but after this trial I don't want to ever see you in my lab again. Goodbye Philip."

Grissom pulled open his office door and gestured for the other man to leave the room. The older man delivered a parting shot over his shoulder as he walked away. Grissom couldn't see Philip's face, but his hearing snapped back just in time to catch the smug comment.

"Your Miss Sidle, she reminds me of Lil."

Grissom struggled not to slam the door shut. He collapsed into one of the uncomfortable visitor's chairs, not yet ready to inhabit the space that Philip had tried to own. He hadn't thought of Lil in years, nor had he ever entertained the idea of comparing Sara to her. True they were both brunette, both ambitious, and driven, or at least Lil had been before Philip, but the resemblance was superficial. Sara's passion and determination were drawn from a much deeper source than Lillian had ever found within herself.

He realized now that he'd been naïve and overly trusting when he started working for with Philip, blinded by the man's knowledge, charm, and reputation. It hadn't taken Grissom long to realize that Philip Gerard was a skilled manipulator, always seeming to be what people wanted him to be. What had taken longer for Grissom to discover was that behind the smooth operator was a shockingly amoral self-preservationist with no qualms about using people for his own ends.

Grissom knew that the gossips had decided years ago that Lillian Edwards, a young lab tech, had been the reason for his falling out with Philip, and in a way it wasn't an entirely incorrect assumption. After all she'd dumped him after a few dates by announcing that she'd slept with Philip the night before, causing the initial crack. Then she'd accidentally gotten pregnant and Philip's casual ending of the affair and his caustic denial of paternity had further opened Grissom's eyes to his true character. But even that hadn't killed the respect he'd felt for his mentor as a scientist. The final break in their relationship, personal and professional, had come from Philip's own actions.

Grissom could still recall the moment clearly. There had been cake in the break room, but someone had suggested that more of a celebration was in order considering the fact that not only was it his birthday, but it was also his final day before moving to Las Vegas to start a new job. So Philip had offered to buy the whole shift a round of drinks at a nearby bar. One round had quickly turned into many and Grissom had ended up driving his drunken supervisor home. Just before getting out of Grissom's car, Philip had turned to him and said, "I'm sure you'll do well in Vegas Gil. Just remember that the evidence never lies."

Grissom almost hadn't caught the mumbled line that followed it.

"Of course that doesn't always mean it's the best answer."

"Huh?" he'd asked, surprised at what he thought he'd heard.

"Sometimes the evidence has to be adjusted. After all, there was no reason for me to pay that harlot child support."

"What did you do Philip?"

"I paid off the tech to falsify the paternity test report," Philip had whispered after looking around in mock concern and bending over towards Grissom.

"I hope you're joking, because otherwise I will tell Lil you said this."

"What do you care Gil? She dumped you, after all." Philip had leaned back and gestured expansively.

"It's the right thing to do."

Philip pushed himself awkwardly from the car. Leaning back in unsteadily as he shut the car door Philip had joked, "I hope Vegas pulls that stick out of your ass Gil."

That had been the last conversation he'd had with Philip before leaving for Vegas. True to his word he'd written Lillian a letter detailing the conversation and he'd heard through the grapevine at a conference a year later that Philip was now paying child support for his son. Since then they'd bumped into each other at conferences, but they'd barely spoken. Now the man was here, on his territory, to be a thorn in his side and there was nothing he could do about it, except encourage his team to do their best and hope that Philip's arrogance would be his undoing. The next few days were going to try everyone's patience.

CSICSICSICSI

Grissom pulled himself out of the past. As rough as that case had been, the team had survived and the others had grown closer. And these days he couldn't even consider their toughest shared experience. Almost loosing Nick had been much worse. But Sara was right; it didn't matter anymore. They'd gotten past it. Now he had to figure out what to do with the issue at hand. Greg had merely been joking around, but something needed to be done. Grissom glanced around his office, and his eyes landed on the fish board, sparking an idea.

He was just finishing up when Sara knocked on his office door.

"Shift's almost over. Have you finished brooding?" she asked from the doorway.

"Yes, you were right. Can you get everyone to the break room?"

"You want to make an announcement?" Sara was confused as she stepped into his office. "They all know already Griss."

"Do I have to train another CSI?" Grissom teased.

"Greg was alive when I left him."

"I've heard that one before. I just want to make it official."

Sara smiled at him and held up her hand to flash the ring. "Because this isn't official looking at all?"

Grissom sighed and rose from behind his desk. "I just want them to hear it from me too."

Just as she had earlier, Sara stepped forward and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. This time he raised his hand to her cheek and stopped her before she pulled away. He leaned back in and planted his lips on hers. He didn't try to deepen the kiss, limiting himself to a light press of mouth on mouth. After a moment he stepped back and smiled at the bemused look on her face.

"Please tell the others I'd like to see them in the break room."

"All right." Sara practically floated out of the office.

Grissom pulled a small strip of tape from the dispenser on his desk and rolled it onto the back of the small paper on his desk. He palmed the object and headed for the break room.

He stood at one end of the table, holding his hand below the table, as his team filtered in. Nick and Warrick came in joking with each other. Catherine was smiling. Sara arrived last with Greg who took the chair farthest from him while she came to stand at his side. Grissom waited until a natural hush fell over the group to speak.

"I know you've all spoken with Sara, but I wanted to tell you in person. Sara has agreed to marry me." He snuck his free arm around her and tugged her more closely against him as he continued, "We've already talked to Ecklie, and at this point he is not breaking up the team, but if this becomes an issue steps will be taken. I do hope that you come to me before anything becomes a problem."

Grissom was pleasantly surprised that Greg was the first to pop up from his seat and come around the table. Grissom released Sara so that Greg could hug her. The younger man stepped back from his fiancée and looked at him nervously.

"Grissom, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you guys in trouble. I just thought…actually I wasn't really thinking."

Sara answered for him, "It's okay Greg. Obviously we weren't going to try to hide this."

Greg flicked his eyes to Sara and quickly back to Grissom. He took a half step forward, paused, and then went with his first impulse and hugged Grissom.

Startled, but amused that his plan was working so well, Grissom brought his previously hidden hand up and patted Greg awkwardly on the back. Greg stepped back; his usual smile reappearing on his face. "Congratulations."

Warrick was next, pushing past Greg to offer Grissom his hand. Nick did the same. Catherine took advantage of their friendship to pull him close and hug him like Greg had. Then she stepped back and joined the others huddling around Sara. A feeling of contentment unlike any he'd experienced in recent years stole over him as he took in the smiles and laughter filling the break room. Suddenly an idea struck him.

"Since shift's officially over and you all seem to be caught up on your cases, let's take this somewhere else. Breakfast at the diner -- on me."

Flipping his phone open to call Brass, Grissom walked out of the break room ahead of the rest of the team. Over the ringing of the phone he could just hear Nick talking.

"Greg, why do you have a fish taped to your back?"

As Sara's laughter rang through the hall Grissom could picture the young CSI twisting himself around, trying to pull the flimsy paper off himself.

* * *

The End. Thanks for reading. 


End file.
